277: This is a gift of parting.

"One must act with a conscience! Have a conscience!"

"Your conscience... has your conscience been eaten by a dog?!"

"I never expected this to happen!"

Niu Zhiyuan, Jiang Hongyue, and Wang Yao stood stunned on the deck, looking at each other as they heard the voices coming from the lounge.

"What's going on? Did one of you provoke him?"

Wang Yao looked at the other two in confusion.

"No, I was just chatting with Senior Brother Jiang, and we were only talking about family matters. We didn't mention Senior Brother Zhou at all."

Niu Zhiyuan didn't understand either why Zhou Yan had suddenly clutched his head and rushed into the lounge.

"Could something have gone wrong with his cultivation?"

Jiang Hongyue offered his own opinion at the right moment.

"Impossible. Whether it's his state of mind or the stability of his cultivation, Senior Brother is top-tier."

"If anyone's cultivation went wrong, it wouldn't be his," Wang Yao replied flatly, crossing his arms.

"Then this is..."

*Slam!*

The commotion inside stopped, and the door was suddenly thrown open. Zhou Yan had lost his initial leisure, his face now filled with irritation.

"Senior Brother, what happened to you?" Wang Yao stepped forward first, asking with concern.

"Don't speak yet."

Zhou Yan reached out and interrupted Wang Yao.

"Listen up. My cultivation is the highest for this operation, so everything goes by my command."

"For this mission, we must be cautious. We need to be fast, steady, and above all, do not expose yourselves."

"From now on, we are no longer Disciples of the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven sent out on a mission. We are four brothers who are Loose Cultivators, as close as kin."

Then Zhou Yan pointed them out one by one.

"Brother Jiang, you are now the eldest. Your name is Zhou Pi."

"I am the second brother. My name is Ma Hao."

He then looked at Wang Yao and Niu Zhiyuan.

"Wang Yao, you are the third brother. Your name is Zhayi."

"Niu Zhiyuan, you are the fourth brother. Your name is Kungou."

Zhou Yan's sudden behavior left Niu Zhiyuan and Jiang Hongyue even more bewildered.

Only Wang Yao didn't overthink why he was doing this, but he did raise a question.

"Senior Brother, can I not be called Zhayi? For some reason, that name doesn't sound right to me," Wang Yao said, raising his hand.

"Fine. You and Little Niu swap. Now you are Kungou, and he is Zhayi."

"That works," Wang Yao nodded.

Seeing that Zhou Yan was not in the right state, the three didn't want to provoke him further. They huddled in a corner, speculating privately via voice transmissions.

However, because Niu Zhiyuan had not yet awakened his Divine Sense, he couldn't transmit his voice into someone else's Sea of Consciousness. They had to use ear-to-ear transmissions instead.

This resulted in bubbles popping up over their heads as they chatted, displaying the words they wanted to say.

"Did the Elders give Senior Brother some kind of hidden mission?"

"Look at Senior Brother's face; it's as grim as when we left Great Gan," Jiang Hongyue shared his view.

"Senior Brother isn't usually one to get worked up. Something must have happened."

"The last time his mood was this low was when he wanted to ditch us and go off on a very dangerous mission by himself."

"You guys should have heard about it; it was the incident in Kaifeng, Great Yu," Wang Yao's expression turned serious as well.

Usually, he was either reckless or cautious. Since there was no need for recklessness now, only caution remained.

"As the saying goes, if you don't listen to your Elders, you'll suffer for it."

"Senior Brother Zhou is our Senior; he definitely won't harm us. As long as we do what he says, we'll be fine."

Niu Zhiyuan, being the one with the lowest cultivation and seniority, spoke last.

"Little Niu, sometimes having high cultivation doesn't mean one has broad experience. You can't trust blindly," Jiang Hongyue felt that while trusting Zhou Yan was fine, one shouldn't lack their own judgment entirely.

"I trust Senior Brother Wang, and Senior Brother Wang trusts Senior Brother Zhou's character and wisdom."

"Since there's no problem with his character or wisdom, then given the disparity in our strength, we must trust Senior Brother so we don't become a burden to him."

"As they say, trust that isn't absolute is absolute mistrust. If this mission can make even a Nascent Soul Stage powerhouse like Senior Brother frown, it must be anything but simple."

"Our cultivation is too low; we don't have the capacity to bear the cost of failure. Senior Brother Zhou just said it: everything goes by his command."

"Senior Brother Zhou is willing to selflessly bear the burden for us. If we don't cooperate, we'd be acting quite ungentlemanly."

Though Niu Zhiyuan's words were a bit pedantic, they were logical and quickly convinced the other two.

They then proceeded to discuss the potential impacts of changes to the mission and how to best coordinate with Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan ignored them and instead checked the side mission he had suddenly received.

Side Mission: "Exorcism."

Mission Requirement: Ensure the safety of everyone in the squad during the subsequent mission phases. The final completion rate will be calculated based on injuries sustained and mission performance.

The hint was already very obvious.

While these three guys were constantly stacking buffs, the mission notification suddenly rang out.

That was most likely a warning from fate itself.

The originally relaxed situation was completely gone. Something was bound to go wrong in the upcoming mission.

So, to prevent accidents, he had the three of them change their names and identities, pretending to be passing Loose Cultivators participating in the mission.

This would minimize unnecessary risks.

The mission mentioned danger to the three of them, which definitely included Wang Yao. Anything that could put Wang Yao in danger would likely be a problem at the Core Formation Stage or higher.

So, at the very least, some Core Formation Stage fellow would come to cause trouble.

He would be fine on his own, but carrying three deadweights was very troublesome. After all, the mission's focus was clear—it wasn't aimed at him.

"I was wondering why I was suddenly sent on this mission... Third Elder, how can a person be so wicked?"

*Thud!*

"How can a person be so wicked!"

In Mo Ran's small shop, he slammed his hand onto the table in anger, leaving a dent in the surface made of special Materials.

Just now, he had followed instructions to connect the chip to his phone and quickly saw a vast amount of information.

This included the background of that "Young Master Wang" and exactly what the other party intended to do.

"Little Ran, by the time you see this, you should never see me again."

"For that, I am sorry."

"I can no longer talk to people or do what I want as freely as I used to."

"In this Kaifeng, there are some things that simply cannot be said, and some things that simply cannot be done."

"I am grateful for your trust in me, so I can only do my best to warn you: do not make an enemy of Young Master Wang. If he asks something of you, just give it to him if possible, even if it is your life."

[Young Master Wang]

[Heir to the Grace Financial Group]

[One of the actual controllers of Grace City]

...[His father is a Soul Transformation Stage powerhouse.]

"Ever since your shop started to pick up, you entered his field of vision, and he has been watching you since then."

"He has never bothered to hide it, to the point that anyone with a little bit of ability could find out with a simple search."

"What he wants to do is force you into bankruptcy, banish you to the Pastoral Area, and ultimately strip you of your Spiritual Root."

"The way to break this: Join the company and offer up your Spiritual Root."

"I know you won't do that, but if you had the chance to see the situation in the Pastoral Area with your own eyes, you would understand."

"The consequences of continuing to play dumb, pretending nothing is happening, or trying to escape are incredibly tragic."

"Perhaps that person already calculated that someone would tell you this, which is why he never made it explicit."

"After all, people like you and I don't even have the right to hear him give an order personally; we can only try to guess his thoughts and flatter him."

"I have said enough; it should be clear."

"If possible, I hope I can see you again."

"But I probably... won't be able to accept the way you would look if you appeared before me again."

"Remember to destroy this after reading."

"This is my trust in you; I hope you do not fail it."

Mo Ran took a deep breath and clutched the chip in his palm.

Green flames surged from his palm, and the chip crackled as it burned, bouncing a few times in the air before turning into sparks and vanishing.

Mo Ran turned to close the shop while simultaneously remote-controlling the church's access, closing the church doors as well.

The sound of the doors closing in the empty church startled Yuan Chenling, who was staring at the screen.

"What's going on? Closing up completely?"

"It's only the afternoon. What if someone comes..."

"Senior Yuan, where is Senior Qing?"

Yuan Chenling looked at the suddenly arriving Mo Ran. He wanted to ask what had happened, but seeing Mo Ran's anxious expression, he swallowed his words.

He then pointed into the distance.

"He's in that direction, but..." Before Yuan Chenling could finish, Mo Ran had already flown rapidly toward the direction he pointed.

"I haven't finished yet," Yuan Chenling pressed his forehead, feeling a headache. "His current state might not be good; it's probably useless for you to go find him."

After confirming that something might really be wrong, Yuan Chenling left the main Kaifeng, intending to go out and find Zhou Yan for help.

On the other side, Mo Ran had already found Qing Xuan, but the other party was in a very strange state.

Mo Ran watched as a bird actually hovered in mid-air in a meditative posture, surrounded by an unfamiliar power. The atmosphere was extremely eerie.

But there was no time for that now. Mo Ran spoke directly.

"Senior Qing Xuan, I have identified the culprit. I need your help!"

Hearing Mo Ran's voice, Qing Xuan slowly opened its eyes. A flash of majesty flickered in its gaze, but it soon returned to normal.

"Mmm~ hmm."

Qing Xuan stretched, suddenly feeling refreshed all over.

It was just a bit confused about why it was here and why Mo Ran was in such a hurry.

"Oh! I remember now!"

"This problem has a solution! A solution!"

"Hahaha, hahahaha!"

Qing Xuan suddenly burst into laughter, leaving Mo Ran unsure of how to respond.

He was indeed anxious, but Qing Xuan's state was clearly abnormal.

"Senior, are you alright?"

Qing Xuan stopped laughing and looked at Mo Ran, who was cautiously observing it, and revealed an inscrutable smile.

"Right now, I feel fantastic!"